


What we are pt 3

by AXEe



Series: What we are [3]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Astra is a femme fatale, F/F, Language, Sexual Situations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-08-15 15:01:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 20,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8061004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AXEe/pseuds/AXEe
Summary: A month after her abduction by Non, and Alex and Astra are settling into a nice routine, but now a shadow from the past is about to rear its ugly head, threatening their happiness.  AU of "Solitude"





	1. Things You Don't Want to Hear When You First Wake Up

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! Welcome to the third installment of What we are, this little gem is an AU of "Solitude", but wait you say, if parts one and two take place after "For the Girl Who Has Everything" then shouldn't we doing an AU of "Truth, Justice, and the American Way"? Well, you'd be right, expect for the fact that I wanted to explore more of Astra's past in Fort Rozz in What we are's version of that episode, and I thought that might be a little too much angst so soon. So, I flipped the episodes around, and now here's the What we are-verse's version of "Solitude"

**Kara**

Since I came to Earth I found that there’s a list of things that I don’t like to do right after I wake up in the morning, answer the door is one of them. Of course it’s a different matter if my sister is on the other side. Especially if she’s holding a box of baked goodies

“If I x-ray that box, will I see crullers?” I asked

“You will not,” Alex answered “your aunt massacred them all, but I managed to save the powdered ones from certain death” she handed me the box as I let her in

“But you know I’m all about the crullers,” I took the box to the kitchen island and opened it, yum, six powdered doughnuts, and they were all for me “waking me up with a box of doughnuts, what ever could you want from me?” I teased

“I, uh, I need your help with…um…something?” I blinked and looked up as Alex looked everywhere but me

“Alex? Are you…is everything OK?” I asked, she let out a snarl of frustration

“I’ve got a date tonight!” she suddenly yelled “with Astra! And I have absolutely no idea what to do!!” she sucked in a breath and collapsed on my couch “help me!” I’ll be honest here, what I did next was not helpful in any way whatsoever, and was actually very mean

I laughed

Hard

Alex threw a pillow at my head “it’s not funny!! Damn it!!”

“I’m sorry!” I giggled “but, come on, Alex, its not like this your first date with her” I pointed out, she sighed

“It actually is, sort of,” she explained “you see,” she began “what we’ve been doing most nights this past month is just staying in, we sit on the couch and eat pizza or Chinese and watch old reruns of The Rockford Files”

“The Rockford Files?” I asked

“Your aunt’s got a bit of a crush on James Garner,” Alex explained, I shrugged, I could see that, James Garner was pretty hot, Alex waved a hand “anyway, I’m talking about a _real_ date, with, you know, fancy tablecloths, twenty different forks, and snooty French waiters, all hopefully followed by some nice, hot--”

“Stop right there!” I interrupted “remember what I said about not wanting any details?” she sighed

“I know, I know, but…” she snarled in frustration “OK, look, Astra and I haven’t actually… _done_ …anything besides sleep together” she explained

“I’m confused” I admitted

“Astra and I are sleeping together,” Alex explained “in the literal sense, as in, we’re _sleeping_ together, not having sex”

“Wait, so you guys haven’t had sex yet?” I asked “OH MY GOD! WHY DID I ASK THAT????!!” I jerked up off the sofa and spat out my bite of doughnut, great, I think I just put myself off doughnuts for the rest of my life. Alex gripped me by the shoulders

“Kara, Kara, calm down” she told me, I took a breath and finally stopped hyperventilating

“I can’t believe I’m going to ask this, but…why haven’t you and Astra…you know?” Alex shrugged

“I don’t know, we just haven’t,” she explained “at first, it was nice, you know, just getting to know each other, but now…” she let go of my shoulders and started to pace

“But now…you want….more” I realized, trying to keep my words as neutral and sex-free as possible, Alex snarled in frustration again and gripped me by the shoulders again

“Oh, no,” she said “I don’t just want _more_ ,” she said “I want _her_ ,” there was a scary gleam in her eye as she spoke, and I actually found myself backing up “I’m going to be perfectly blunt here, Kara, if Astra and I don’t do _something_ _besides_ hugs and kisses by the end of this week, I am either going to explode or kill her! Then explode!!” I slowly stepped away from Sex Crazy Alex and thought of a way out, damn, where’s a crime when you really need it?

“Shoot, I’m late for work,” I realized, not a lie, I was late for work, but unlike most people, I could wait until the last minute if I wanted to. As I grabbed my clothes and headed for the bathroom to take a shower, I saw Alex slump down on the couch, and I suddenly noticed how tired and frustrated she looked and felt bad for her. I stopped “hey, Alex?” she looked up at me “maybe you should try…talking to Astra?” I suggested, it felt lame even as I said it, but Alex smiled softly and nodded anyway

“Yeah, maybe” she agreed, I nodded

“Good”  



	2. Howl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex needs a vacation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Two, and a-wayyy we go!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The fabric of your flesh, pure as a wedding dress  
Until I wrap myself inside your arms I cannot rest  
The saints can't help me now, the ropes have been unbound  
I hunt for you with bloodied feet across the hallowed ground  
-Florence + the Machine "Howl"  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

After I ambushed poor Kara (something which I felt bad about), I made my own way to work, where I slogged through paperwork and slowly stewed in a mixture of my own hormones, getting more and tense by the second. It didn’t help at all that Astra was _in the room with me_ , since her agreement with General Lane meant that either me or Kara had to be with her at all times, which meant all I could do was watch as she led a debriefing on the various different aliens imprisoned in Fort Rozz.

Thank god I had her write up the information last night (while we were curled up on my couch watching The Rockford Files) because I didn’t hear a damn word she said, for all I knew she was talking gibberish. Hell, Kara could have suddenly come into the room and done a striptease, and I probably wouldn’t have noticed, I was too wrapped up in watching Astra’s lips move. So, when J’onn offered to spar with me, I jumped at the chance to work off some steam

It didn’t work out so well.

Well actually, it was going fine, until I literally knocked him out of the ring, and when I charged, he spun around, pinned me to the wall, a hand to my throat, and shifted into his true form, holding me there until I came to my senses. I slapped at his hand

“OK, OK!” he pulled back and shifted back into Hank Henshaw and started to walk out

“The next time you’re mad about something,” he told me “let’s have coffee”

“I’m not mad, I’m fucking frustrated!” I snarled, Hank stopped and turned back to face me

“Astra?” I nodded “don’t tell me you’re already having trouble in paradise?” he teased “because, you certainly seemed rather…starry-eyed at her debriefing earlier,” he pointed out, he frowned suddenly “ah” he said, as if he just realized something that made him uncomfortable, I scowled as I realized that he’d probably just read my mind

“Stay out of my head” I told him, he shrugged

“It’s little hard not to when you’re practically screaming inside your head about how much you want to tangle you fingers in Astra’s hair and leave a trail of hickeys down her neck,” he pointed out, his voice just dripping with sarcasm, but there was a light, teasing tone in his voice. He sighed and gestured for me to sit down on the mat “try talking to her” he suggested he settled down next to me

“OK, you’re the second person to tell me that” I grumbled, J’onn shrugged

“Well, your sister’s right,” he said “you can’t expect Astra to know what you want without your telling her, unlike me, she can’t read minds, Alex” I sighed

“I know, I know, I’m just…”

“Scared?”

“Terrified”

“Of?”

“Of…I don’t know, it’s just…everything happened so fast, you know? What with her defection and Non’s death, and now that we’ve gotten the chance to slow things down…”

“You’re having second thoughts”

“No, not exactly,” I scowled “it’s like…” I trailed off, at a loss for words

“It feels real now,” J’onn finished for me with a sage nod “because now you’re worried that, by taking the next step, it won’t live up to your expectations, because it’ll mean that she’s a _person_ , with thoughts and feelings and not just some fantasy” he explained

“Yeah” I mumbled

“Alex?” J’onn asked “go and talk to your girlfriend, because frankly, I can’t have you this stressed out. It looks bad on reports for one thing” he didn’t have to mention the fact that if I was this distracted in the field it could get me killed, daydreaming at a debriefing was one thing, losing my focus in the field because I couldn’t get over how hot Astra looked in black was entirely different. Sighing, I got up, mumbled a quiet thanks to J’onn, and shuffled out of the room, still feeling wound tighter than a spring.  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Outside in the corridor I noticed that the doors to the kryptonite training room were open and that a crowd had formed outside. I glanced over at J’onn, confused

“What’s going on over there?”

“Astra’s training some of the agents in Kryptonian hand-to-hand techniques” he explained, almost as soon as he finished saying that, the crowd suddenly parted as two of the DEO’s biggest agents came flying out of the room like rag dolls

“Again!” Astra’s voice bellowed out from inside the room. Curiosity getting the better of me, I squeezed past the crowd and peeked inside, I watched as three burly agents, each of whom were built like refrigerators, advanced on Astra. I winced as she easily knocked the guy on her left flat on his ass with a quick jab to his nose and a kick to the back of his knees, the guy on her right got the same treatment but also got put into a headlock, as did the guy in the middle Astra then threw her arms back, releasing her grip at the same time, actually sending the two guys spinning through the air before they hit the mat like rocks. She slowly straightened up “again!” she bellowed out. The crowd groaned and cringed, but soon a few more brave (i.e. stupid) souls came up and promptly got their asses handed to them courtesy of Astra. As victim Number Ten (or was it twenty?) hit the mat, Astra suddenly looked my way, she raised an eyebrow challenging at me, the silent question clear: ’do you want to try and take me on?’

“Hey, Danvers, ‘bout _you_ get your ass kicked this time?” someone suddenly called out, there were murmurs of agreement (as well as pain) from the rest of crowd and I quickly found myself being pushed the head of the class

“Agent Danvers,” Astra acknowledged politely as I shakily stepped onto the mat, though I was shaking for a whole different reason than the others were, they were scared of her, I was turned on “come to try your luck?” she purred, in answer I shifted into a fighting stance, Astra nodded and I charged, only to get thrown aside like a paper ball. As I sat on the mat trying get my equilibrium back, Astra stood over me, hands on her hips, smirking “again?” she asked.

I flew up to my feet and charged. For a second we were evenly matched, blocking each other’s punches and kicks fairly easily, as we hit and blocked I could hear yells and downright cat calls from the group of mostly men watching us

“Twenty bucks on Danvers!” someone yelled

“No way, Astra’ll kick ass just like she did to the rest us”

“I don’t know man, Danvers is pretty scrappy”

I ignored the cat calls and kept my focus, lunging and grappling at Astra’s midsection. Suddenly, she spun out of my grip, grabbed me in a bear hug from behind, and flung us both down to the mat, wrapping her legs around my waist and holding me there while she held my arms in a half nelson. I couldn’t get any leverage in this position, so all I could do was just kick and flop around in Astra’s grip like a fish. I frozen when I suddenly felt warm breath tickle my ear

“You don’t know how long I wanted to get you like this, my brave one” Astra purred in my ear, her voice low enough so that only I could hear it, it wouldn’t look good if the rest of the DEO found out I was dating the woman I was supposed to be watching “how long I’ve wanted to see you like this,” Astra continued, her words were like honey “strong, defiant, full of rage, but ultimately you’ll surrender to me, just like all the others” she whispered. Distantly I was aware of the cat calls getting louder and more people were starting to call out bets even as the knot of tension in my abdomen tightened

“What are you doing to me?” I choked out; Astra chuckled in my ear, low and dangerous

“What do you think I’m doing?” she purred, and I suddenly realized my mistake, because getting into the ring with Astra wouldn’t just end with getting my ass kicked, it would also probably end with me getting fired, because this wasn’t fighting, this wasn’t sparing, this was freaking _foreplay_

“All right, all right, break it up, show’s over!” J’onn pushed his way the still-braying crowd, and Astra instantly released me and easily flowed to her feet like a snake as he approached, while I just lay there, because I knew that if I got up right now, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from tearing Astra’s clothes off with my teeth

“Director” I heard Astra acknowledge, I turned my head and saw J’onn nod politely at her before he turned back to address the crowd

“Now, unless any of you wants to find a new job flipping hamburgers at McDonald’s you’ll get back to the jobs you have now!” he barked, there a few murmurs as the crowd broke up, their fun over, and soon it was just Astra, J’onn, and me—your local ticking time bomb—left alone in the room. Astra turned to me and held out a hand “Are you all right?” she asked, as I took her hand and hauled myself up

“Yeah, I’m good” I told her, lying through my teeth

“I bet” J’onn grumbled as he stalked out of the room, leaving Astra and I alone. Astra nodded politely at me as she went over to the door and shut off the kryptonite emitters

“It was a good fight,” she commented as she walked out. She stopped in the doorway and looked back over her shoulder at me “we should do it again sometime” she added, I nodded weakly

“Yeah,” I mumbled, my throat drier than sandpaper “sounds good”

“Yes, it does, doesn’t it?” Astra purred, and then actually _winked_ at me, before she turned and walked out of the room. Leaving me tense, sore, and burning for her like a wildfire


	3. Discretion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex goes to CatCo and gets a surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am a Kara/James shipper as well as an Alex/Astra shipper, so I apologize to the legions of Kara/Cat fans out there

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

After my sparing match with Astra, I somehow managed to get through the rest of the day without either throttling Astra or giving her a hickey. So, when it was time for me to sign out for the night I all but ran for the door, I needed to get away from Astra for a little bit; the only problem was that she needed to stay with me. So I plopped her down on my couch, made some lame excuse about wanting to see Kara work before our date, got her sworn agreement that she would not leave the apartment while I was gone, and ran like a bat out of hell, leaving Astra behind to watch a rerun of The Bachelor.

I’m awful, I know

I changed into my ‘date’ clothes in my car, and then to kill some time (I was procrastinating, I admit it), I decided to actually visit Kara. So, I picked up some Chinese from her favorite Chinese restaurant, and headed to CatCo, as I got into the elevator I heard someone call out to me. Turning, I saw James jogging towards the doors; I quickly stuck an arm out and held the door open for him

“Thanks” he said as he got in and pressed the button for Kara’s floor

“No problem” I said

“You here to see Kara?” he asked, I nodded

“Yeah, I thought I’d bring her some food from…” I trailed off as I saw the identical brown paper bag in James’ hand “don’t tell me, Chow Hong’s Takeout?”

“Yep,” he grinned “looks like we had the same idea”

“Looks like” I agreed, James frowned and gave me the once over

“You look nice,” he commented, I looked down at my outfit, a nice loose burgundy blouse, black slacks, half-inch heels, and a little makeup and some jewelry. Not too dressy, but not too casual, my only hope was that Astra knew that she was supposed to wear something similar, she’s still wearing that catsuit of hers (it apparently doesn’t stain, wrinkle, or get smelly since I never seen her wash it) “you have a date tonight?” James asked, I nodded

“Yep”

“Nervous?”

“Terrified” he chuckled

“I’ve been there, trying meeting your girlfriend’s father who happens to be a four-star general who has never liked you” I chuckled, if only he knew who I was going on a date with

“I think I can top that” I said, James nodded

“Probably” he agreed, there was something about the way he said that. I sighed

“She told you, didn’t she?”

“You mean about you and Astra dating? Nah,” James chuckled “seriously though, Alex,” he added “she really is fine with it”

“Is she?” I asked, doubtful

“She is,” James insisted “come on, you know Kara, she just wants people to be happy, and if you dating her aunt makes you happy then Kara’s happy” he pointed out as the elevator finally opened (I swear that Cat Grant made all the other elevators in the building slow on purpose just so that she’d have an excuse to yell at people for being late to work) and James and I stepped out and made a beeline for Kara’s desk

“Potstickers,” James sang out as he set the bag down on her desk. Kara’s face lit up

“Ooh, is that from Chow Hong’s?” she asked, James nodded “ooh! That’s my favorite!”

“I know” James nodded as she eagerly tore the bag open and quickly pulled out a box

“Hey, don’t forget about me,” I said as I set my own bag down “here, got you a little something too” Kara frowned

“You guys both got me food?” she asked

“You’re complaining?” I asked

“No! No, no, not at all,” she wrapped her arms around James’ bag protectively as she was afraid someone would take it away “it’s just, surprising, that’s all”

“Yeah, we met in the elevator,” I explained “seems that we both had the same idea” Kara nodded as she reached for my bag, two potstickers already in her mouth. As she prepared to move on to another victim she stopped and did a double take

“Alex, you look nice” she commented, her mouth still full of potsickers, I nodded

“Yeah, I’ve got a date tonight, remember?” Kara gave me a smile that was way too wide to be sincere

“Right!” she said quickly

“Hey, come on,” James admonished “she’s already nervous enough” Kara sighed

“I know, I know,” she said “it’s not the date that bothers me”

“Oh” I mumbled, as I remembered how I ambushed her earlier today. James looked between us, confused

“’Oh’ what?” he asked, I sighed and rolled my eyes, might as well tell him everything else. I leaned in closer and lowered my voice

“Astra and I haven’t…. done…anything yet” I explained, James blinked

“Oh” he repeated, looking away, I nodded

“Yeah, ‘oh’,” I turned to Kara “and you, stop blabbing about my love life to your friends”

“Hey, you’re the one who’s always butting into my love life,” she fired back, grinning “consider this payback” I struggled to come with a comeback, a really good one, when…

“Ker-ah!” Cat Grant suddenly emerged from her office. She ignored James and me and promptly threw a flash drive at Kara, who fumbled and juggled it before finally catching it “I thought I told you to get rid of this!” she snapped, she turned to me “who, is this?” she demanded, looking at me the same way I look at specimens under the microscope, a mix of fascination and slight disgust

“Oh, Ms, Grant, this is my sister, Alex” Kara introduced us, Cat nodded

“And what, pray tell, is your…sister…doing here?” she asked, I just smiled politely and held out my hand, she took my hand gingerly, like I might be infected with some horrible disease

“Nice to meet you,” I said as we shook hands (it was like shaking hands with an empty sock) “I’m just here visiting my sister” I explained, Cat just nodded

“Yes, well,” she drawled “always nice to meet new people…Alice…was it?”

“Alex” I corrected, she nodded slowly

“Alex,” she muttered, she turned back to Kara and nodded to the flash drive in Kara’s hand “you, blonde sister, I thought I told you to put that in the microwave and set it to ‘popcorn’! Chop-chop!” she turned back me “and you, brown haired sister, unless you have something else to do here, leave, your sister still has work to do” with that, she spun on her hundred-dollar high heels and marched back into her office

“OK,” I said slowly once Cat was back behind her desk banging away on her laptop “I can’t believe I’m going to say this, but she is way scarier in person than Non ever was. And he abducted me”

“Actually,” James piped up “I think she liked you” I stared at him

“You’re kidding, right?” he shook his head

“No”

“Huh,” I muttered, I looked over at Kara, who was still holding the flash drive “what is that, anyway?”

“You heard of the DiamondDiscretions.com hack?” James asked

“I haven’t even heard of DimondDiscretions.com” I replied

“It’s a website for cheaters, like Ashley Madison,” James explained “it was supposed to be completely hack-proof, until someone actually hacked their members list” I nodded along

“…and the hacker sent you guys the list to broadcast to the world,” I realized “but, then why does Cat want you to fry it? I mean that sounds like the story of the century”

“Well,” James picked up (Kara had gone back to stuffing her face) “according to Cat, firstly no one cares anymore since things like gay marriage are becoming acceptable, and secondly she feels that by releasing the list we’d just be giving cheaters and adulators vindication”

“Hey!” we turned to see a smiling Lucy Lane walk up to our little group, she frozen when she saw me, her smile suddenly seeming to be plastered on

“Lucy, hey!” James greeted, she nodded quietly at him, her gaze flicking back and forth between Kara and me, I could see her mentally putting two and two together and getting a gigantic four, if Agent Danvers of the DEO was here, with Kara Danvers, then that meant that Kara wasn’t who Lucy thought she was

“Oh, this is Kara’s sister, Alex” James tried, suddenly looking about two feet tall. Lucy nodded slowly, unable to take her eyes off of Kara and me

“I see” she said flatly

“Didn’t, didn’t I tell you that Kara had a sister?” James stammered out, Lucy turned to him and—still smiling—shook her head

“No,” she said through clenched teeth “you didn’t”

“Oh” James muttered, defeated, Lucy nodded

“Come with me” she said simply, grabbing his arm and dragging him over to his office, where, through the glass, I could see them start arguing. Kara turned to me

“This is bad” she said

“You think?” I snarled, Kara’s eyes widened

“You, you don’t think Lucy’ll…tell…do you?” I shook my head

“No, she’s not dumb; she knows that, if anything, telling will put herself in danger,” I explained “what I’m worried about is her finding out about Astra and me and telling her father”

“That’s…,” Kara started “that’s really bad,” she frowned “do you think she will?” I thought about it and then shook my head

“No, she quit the Army, so one, she has no legal obligation to tell him, and two, they have a very bad relationship, if she does find out about Astra and me she might actually keep it secret from her father just to spite him”

“Yikes” Kara muttered as Winn came over

“Uh, guys?” he whispered “did I just see Lucy…?” Kara nodded

“Yep”

“So, she…?” Winn started, I nodded

“Yep”

“Does she know about Alex and your aun—”

“Oh my god, he knows too?!” I scowled at Kara “why don’t you just rent a billboard and be done it?!” Kara pouted

“That’s not fair!” she objected, I sighed

“You’re right, you’re right” I hadn’t actually told Kara to not tell anyone, so this was partly my own fault

But mostly hers

I was about give Kara a gentle but firm lecture on a little thing called ‘discretion’ and how to use it when every screen in the room suddenly flickered and lit up with the same image of a blonde woman

 _“Greetings CatCo employees,”_ she began as everyone in the room gathered around to gawk, Lucy and James included _“I’m disappointed in all of you. Especially you Queen of All Media”_ the blonde continued

“I supposed you’re the hacker who sent the drive this morning,” Cat Grant commented as she came out of her office “hmm, what do you they call you? The peroxide avenger?” she mocked

 _“I handed you the story of the year,”_ the woman retorted _“how sinners have turned the internet into a modern day Sodom and Gomorrah…but, you failed to act, so now…all will suffer,”_ she smirked _“computers control everything, communication, banking…even traffic lights,”_ she grinned _“the age of chaos begins now. Enjoy”_ the screens flicked back to normal, I watched as Cat turned to Winn, once again completely ignoring me

“Toyman, Jr. You’re the computer expert. Fix this” she said turning back to her office

“I definitely liked it better when she did not know who I was” Winn muttered

“What’s this?” Lucy suddenly asked, looking back up at the screens, I looked up and saw overhead images of the city’s streets

“Those are traffic camera feeds” I realized as I saw two cars collide

“Uh, guys?” Winn suddenly called out, our little group turned “every traffic light in the city just turned green” he explained

“Oh my god” Lucy muttered, we turned back to the screens, watching as more and more cars collided, some were head on collisions, others were t-bones, but the numbers were growing by the second and considering how people drive in National City at night, it was only going to get worse. I turned back to Kara only to see empty air; nodding to myself I hurried over to Winn’s desk, Lucy and James crowding around me to watch the carnage

“Liberty Avenue,” Winn exclaimed “there’s, there’s about to a major crash” he pointed at the screen; a semi and a minivan were both heading to the intersection at full speed. I yanked my cell phone out and dialed Kara’s other line, thank god for speed dial

“Supergirl, intersection of Liberty Avenue and Majestic Street, there’s about to be a major accident” I told her

 _“Got it”_ Kara answered; I put the phone down to see Lucy staring at me questioningly

“My family took her in when she first got here” I said simply, Lucy nodded slowly

“So…you really are her sister” she said softly, I nodded as I turned back the screen

“Yeah” I muttered, watching on the screen as Kara swooped in just in time, lifting the minivan up and out of the path of the semi with just seconds to spare. We all let out a collective sigh of relief

“Got another one,” Winn exclaimed “jeez, it’s right outside” he clicked the mouse and the image changed to a camera feed from the across the street from CatCo. I watched, metaphorically biting my nails as James relayed the information over his watch to Kara. The image on the screen was nerve-wracking, someone (presumably the wife of an employee of CatCo) had brought her kids with her, they had parked across the street and the little group (a mother and her two kids, no older than four or five) were already starting to cross the street

“Come on, come on” I muttered, a car was already heading to what the driver thought was a clear green light

“She’s not going to make it” Lucy whispered, a buzzing from my phone caught my attention and I glanced down to see an alert, Astra had broken out of her perimeter, i.e. she’d left my apartment. Great, just what I didn’t need right now. I ignored it for the moment, returning my attention to the screen. The family was already in the middle of the crosswalk and the same car was getting closer, going way too fast even under normal driving conditions. Suddenly a figure in black just dropped down in between the car and the family, throwing their hands out and easily holding the car back like it was nothing, allowing the woman to hurry her kids across to safety

“Is that…?” Winn asked in disbelief, I glanced back down at my phone, the GPS tracking anklet we’d put on Astra put her position as right across the street from CatCo, at the exact intersection that the little family had been at

“Yeah,” I answered, not quite believing it myself, as the figure on the screen shot up into the sky “that’s her”


	4. Clearing the air

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex gets back home ready to chew Astra out, but gets another surprise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DOUBLE UPDATE!!!!!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

Although I was mad as hell at Astra for violating my trust, her little prison break had to be put on the back burner, and James, Winn, Lucy, and I spent the next four hours in Winn’s little secret hideout relaying accident sites to Kara, it wasn’t until nearly midnight that the NCPD were finally able to set up roadblocks at all major intersections throughout the city. By that point, the hacker had apparently gotten bored and the city’s traffic lights soon went back to normal, even so, the police were still advising people to stay off the streets for the rest of the night and if you absolutely had to drive to go below the speed limit and keep aware of your surroundings. What was really amazing though was that Astra’s little heroics weren’t just a one hit wonder, we saw her at two more times on camera at the site of two other accidents, at the first one she stopped a head on collision, and the second she pulled a woman and her dog out of an overturned car.

I was standing on the roof of the building when Kara touched down, she looked winded and tired

“You OK?” I asked, she nodded and took a breath

“Yeah, just a little…you know,” she frowned and looked me up and down again “sorry about your date” she said, I shrugged

“Not your fault” I told her, she nodded

“I know, but still…” she shrugged helplessly “here,” she stepped over to edge and held out her arms “let me make it up to you, I’ll fly you home” she offered, I chuckled and shook my head

“What the hell, I probably won’t be comfortable driving in this city ever again,” I hopped into her arms “no barrel rolls” I told her firmly, she grinned

“No promises” she said as she took off  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

On the flight back to my apartment my anger at Astra’s little stunt grew, so that by the time Kara helped me crawl through my living room window (in heels no less) I was ready to tear Astra limb from limb. Fear, adrenaline, and, yes, arousal, all churned and mixed together in my head to form a neat little cocktail just waiting to be unleashed on some unsuspecting person, namely Astra. I was going to carefully—and loudly—tear into her, driving home the point that, even if she did save several people’s lives, she had still violated the agreement she made with the DEO.

I stopped short at the sight of Astra scrubbing my stovetop

“What are you doing?” I finally managed to ask

“Your home is _filthy_ ,” she sneered in response without bothering to look up. I glanced around my kitchen and saw that the cabinets had been scrubbed clean as well, so had the fridge, I peeked inside the fridge and saw that she’d cleaned that too, she even cleaned out the salad crisper which, admittedly, had been starting to look pretty dirty “take off your shoes,” Astra suddenly ordered “I just mopped this floor” I looked down at the linoleum, which was…shiny, I could practically see my reflection in it. Stepping back into the living room, I saw that she’d cleaned my couch, straightened my bookcases, dusted the TV screen, and did she actually…sand and polish the floor?

“What the hell is going on?” I demanded

“If am I expected to live here, I would prefer that this apartment be at least somewhat _livable_ ” Astra explained, brushing past me armed with a broom and a dustpan and heading to the window I just came in through

Since when did I have a broom?

“You’ve been living here for a month and haven’t once complained,” I pointed out “hell you’ve even been _contributing_ to the ‘filth’. Every morning after you take a shower you flood the bathroom and leave your towel on the floor,” I reminded her, I must really love her if I can forgiver her for flooding my bathroom every morning “not mention your habit of leaving toothpaste splatters on the sink,” I added. As I watched her sweep up the floor directly under the window sill I noticed that her movements were quick, jerky. Nervous “you know, Kara eats when she’s upset” I began; Astra stopped sweeping and looked up at me

“Your point?” she snarled

“I know that you left the apartment tonight, what I want to know is why” she sighed and stood, staring out the window

“I saw the news,” she began “about the traffic lights malfunctioning, and I knew you were out there, somewhere, possibly in danger”

“You could’ve called me,” I pointed out “you know how to use the phone”

“I tried,” she ground out “several times, there was no answer” I pulled out my phone and saw at least a dozen missed calls all from my apartment. I sighed as I realized that I’d been on the phone with Kara for most of the night, directing her to accident sites, so if Astra had called me all she would gotten was a busy signal

“You panicked,” I realized softly, she nodded, her back to me “I’m sorry,” I said, I gently walked up to her, wrapping my arms around her waist and resting my chin on her shoulder “I should’ve called you, let you know I was all right”

“You should have!” she hissed angrily

“I know” I said softly, I kept my voice low and soft, I knew she was mad because she was scared. She suddenly sagged against me

“And now, I fear, because of my panic, that I lost my freedom” she whispered, I shook my head and placed a kiss to her shoulder

“No you haven’t,” I told her, I put my hands on her shoulders and gently turned her around “I’ll talk to Hank tomorrow, try to convince him that it was all just a misunderstanding” I assured her, she smiled softly, shyly at me as she gave me the once over

“You look…different” she commented

“Yeah, I was planning on wearing this for our date” I explained, Astra frowned

“It’s…nice?” she said hesitantly

“Gee, thanks,” I said sarcastically “I get all dressed up and all you can say is that it’s ‘nice’?” she chuckled

“I’m sorry,” she said, smirking “but, I much prefer your appearance when you first wake up” I snorted

“What, you mean half asleep, with bad breath and messy hair?” she shook her head

“No, I mean natural, unadorned, without that horrendous ‘makeup’ you put on you face every day,” she explained “you always look so lovely in the mornings, so…wild” she purred, I groaned and pulled away, that familiar heat burning through me

“Please stop” I asked, she smirked

“Why?” she purred

“Because if you keep talking like that I’m going to end up showing you how ‘wild’ I can get”

“I look forward to it,” she purred, she reached out and cupped my cheek, gently pulling me in for a soft kiss “but not tonight,” she said against my lips “tonight, I simply wish to hold you as we sleep, to know that you’re all right” she pleaded

“I can do that,” I said “come on, I think I still have some leftovers from last night in the fridge, unless you threw them out?” she shook her head “well, then let’s have some dinner and then go to bed” I suggested, Astra smiled softly and nodded

“All right” she whispered  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


	5. Martians and Matchmakers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> J'onn gets mad, and Alex tries some matchmaking

**Alex**

The next day when I walked into DEO headquarters, Astra at my side, everything looked normal, Vasquez was monitoring the newsfeeds, other agents were milling around at their jobs, there were no soldiers with rifles aimed at Astra’s head demanding that we turn her over to military custody because she violated her parole. In fact, everything looked the same way it did yesterday

“DANVERS!!” J’onn suddenly bellowed out, Astra and I both jumped “BOTH OF YOU GET YOUR ASSES OVER HERE NOW!!” he roared, Astra and I put on our best poker faces (hers was better of course, downright expressionless) and marched over to J’onn

“Yes sir?” I asked, sounding as innocent as a baby

“Explain _this!!!_ ” he pointed at the monitors

 _“In related news,”_ the reporter was saying _“it appears that Supergirl now has a partner. Several security cameras captured footage of a mysterious woman in black who appears to possess the same powers as Supergirl rescuing at least two people during last night’s cyber attack, and eyewitnesses report at least one more rescue. Several eyewitnesses have claimed that the mystery woman is the same superpowered woman who fought Supergirl across the National City’s skyline several months ago,”_ they showed a clip of Astra’s brawl with Kara, when she was still the enemy and had allowed herself to be captured in order to distract us from Non’s attack on Lord Technologies, I still couldn’t believe that was only a few months ago, how times change _“the woman’s connection to Supergirl,”_ the reporter continued _“and her intentions remain unknown, CatCo Worldwide Media CEO and founder, Cat Grant, has so far refused to comment on the mystery woman--”_ J’onn switched to another feed and scowled at us

“Explanations, _now!_ ” he demanded, I opened my mouth, ready to explain, beg, plead, when Astra beat me to the punch

“Director Henshaw, the fault is mine,” she began “during the attack last night I became concerned for Agent Danvers’ safety and deemed it necessary to leave her apartment in order to search for her” she explained

“And just, _where_ , was Agent Danvers if she wasn’t with you at her apartment?” J’onn asked, scowling at me

“I believe she was visiting her sister” Astra answered blandly

“So, she _wasn’t with you_?” J’onn emphasized, Astra shook her head

“No” J’onn nodded slowly as he looked between us

“Come with me”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

J’onn led us to one of the sparing rooms. Once the doors were shut he turned to us

“What the hell were you thinking!” he demanded, whether he meant me or Astra I wasn’t sure

“Hank, she’s been cooped up in my apartment for a month,” I began “if she wanted to do…something…she’d done it already, I didn’t see the harm in leaving her for an hour or so. And, it’s not like that I knew there was going to be a cyber attack, I had every possible reason to believe that I could go out, visit Kara, and come back, all in less than an hour” J’onn sighed and scrubbed at his face

“Alex, I know you trust her, but, I don’t, not officially at least, and if General Lane or any of his people in Washington get even the tiniest whiff of the fact that you two are more than an informant and her handler you’ll both end up behind bars, and I can guarantee you that you won’t be cellmates”

“I know” I said, I scowled as I mentally did damage control

“Perhaps there is a positive aspect to these events” Astra piped up

“How?” I asked

“While I did violate the terms of my parole, I did not harm anyone,” she explained “indeed, I saved several individuals from harm”

“That’s…actually pretty good,” I realized, the ideas starting to flow “I mean, no one can prove that I wasn’t home at the time she left,” I pointed out “we can say that I left with her to help with the cyber attack” I added, J’onn scowled and rubbed his forehead

“All right,” he sighed “if anyone asks, officially, that’s our story, Alex, go and fill out an incident report saying just that, and you,” he pointed at Astra “you step out of line again and the only contact you’ll have with Agent Danvers is going to be in the form of _conjugal visits_. Do I make myself clear?”

“Transparent” Astra replied, J’onn scowled

“Good, now get out of here” as Astra and I turned to leave I heard J’onn quietly grumble out “you three are going to be the death of me” smirking to myself, I guided Astra to my lab who I could fill out the report in relative peace and quiet

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 _“So, did Hank fire you yet?”_ Kara asked, I smiled into the phone as I sighed my ‘official’ report

“Not yet, although I’m on thin ice” I answered

 _“You’re always on thin ice”_ Kara teased

“I’ll remind you said that the next time I buy food”

 _“Meanie,”_ I could practically hear her pout _“so, how’s Astra?”_ she asked, I looked up at Astra who was perched on my lab bench looking bored out of her mind

“Bored,” I replied “she’s been cooped up either at my place, your place, or here for a month, last night probably felt like heaven,” I explained, Astra turned at that and blinked at me, looking confused, I mouthed a quick ‘later’ and turned back to my phone call “so, how’s Lucy taking the whole ‘my-coworker-is-Supergirl-and-my-boyfriend-knew-all-along’ thing?” I asked

 _“I’m not sure,”_ Kara sighed _“I mean she hasn’t threatened to, you know, ‘out’ me yet, so that’s good, I think, but I don’t think she and James are on good terms anymore”_ she explained

“I’m sorry to hear that,” I replied, actually I wasn’t all that sorry, I like Lucy and all, but I’ve seen how James and Kara look at each other when they think no one’s looking, they’ve got it bad. Of course I’m one to talk; I’m dating my sister’s alien aunt who happens to be a reformed eco-terrorist and the former leader of an entire prison full of escaped ex-cons. Talk about a complicated love life “hey,” I said, changing the subject “did you see the news about Astra?”

_“Yep”_

“Are you mad?”

_“Nope”_

“Why not?”

 _“Because it just proves that I was right all along, she’s not a bad person, I mean she could’ve easily escaped last night, or she could’ve hurt someone, but she didn’t, she even saved a bunch of people and then came back to your apartment…it’s like a prisoner locking themselves back in their cell during a riot”_ Kara explained, sometimes I was that I had her faith, that optimistic, glass-half-full outlook on the world, no matter what Kara will always try to see the good in people, and I love her for it. I shook myself out of my thoughts

“So, has Cat Grant launched a hunting party for the city’s new superhero?” I asked

_“Not yet, I think she wants to find this hacker first, because someone actually mentioned that at the meeting this morning, and Cat shot him down”_

“With an anti-aircraft gun no doubt” I joked, Kara ignored me and kept going like I hadn’t said anything

 _“…I mean practically the entire city’s been hacked, bank accounts, medical records, everything,”_ she sighed into the phone _“Lucy’s contacts at the Pentagon apparently say that military intelligence is all over this, but so far it doesn’t look like there’s much to go on…,”_ she pouted into the phone _“I don’t suppose…?”_ she started

“Nothing yet,” I answered “which is actually a good thing, because, for now anyway, it looks like this is just a normal, human, cyber terrorist,” I explained “hey, maybe Winn can help you out” I suggested, I could hear Kara perk up

 _“Hey, that’s a great idea!”_ she exclaimed

“I sometimes have those, you dork,” I teased “you should invite James over too,” I added “the poor guy could probably use some company tonight”

 _“Another great idea from Alex Danvers!”_ she proclaimed in a deep voice, sounding like a late-night infomercial _“uh-oh, Ms. Gant’s calling me, I’d better go, tell Astra I love her, bye”_

“I will, bye” I hung up and turned back to my pile of paperwork, sometimes I think all we need to stop alien attacks is to just make them fill out request forms in triplicate

“I saw that” Astra commented, I looked up at her

“You saw what?”

“You,” she said with a smirk “you’re trying to…what is the proper phrase…’set up’ Kara and James”

“So what if I am? You’ve met James; you’ve seen how they look at each other,” I turned to face her “besides, what are you complaining about, you like James, you even agreed with me that he was a, how’d you put it, a ‘suitable match’, for Kara, which was weird,” I pointed out, actually what was really weird was that since meeting James and Winn she and Winn have actually gotten to become friends, he even invited her over once for a night of video games, I came along to ‘watch’ the ‘prisoner’ (actually I just wanted to play too), and laughed myself sick when the big bad Kryptonian general lost, horribly, at Halo over a dozen times that night. She wasn’t amused at my reaction “you even said that Alura would approve” I added

“And I believe she would,” Astra agreed, there was a tinge of sadness in her eyes as she mentioned her sister “I was merely wondering,” she added, perking up a bit “if your attempt at matchmaking is somewhat premature, you have no conformation or proof that James and Lucy Lane have ended their relationship” she pointed out, I struggled to come up with a counterpoint, came up short, and settled on

“Leave me alone, I’ve got paperwork to do”

“Of course you do” Astra murmured smugly


	6. Great Minds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The hacker reveals herself and J'onn drops a bombshell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, welcome to Chapter Six of What we are pt 3, I want to thank you all for your support and I'd also like to address a few things
> 
> Firstly, thanks to snow_lily for pointing out that spelling goof, yes I did mean 'conjugal' instead of 'congenital', I've gone back and fixed that little goof. Secondly to Rhiannon (I hope I'm getting these names right) thank you for noticing my use of Florence + the Machine lyrics, I was beginning to think no one was noticing, also no, I did not know that she did a duet with Lady Gaga (insert embarrassing girlish squeal here).
> 
> OK, here we go!

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

For Rhiannon, who liked my use of Florence + and the Machine lyrics, here’s some more

I’m gonna be released from behind these lines  
And I don’t care whether I live or die  
And I’m losing blood, I’m gonna leave my bones  
And I don’t your heart, it leaves me cold

I don’t want you future  
I don’t need your past  
One grand moment  
Is all I ask

\--Florence + the Machine “Leave My Body”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

“OK, she’s been doing that for over an hour” I complained, nodding over at Vasquez who was staring at a length of computer code scroll across the screens, which would been fine, normal even, if her eyes hadn’t been glued to the same section of code for over an hour

“Leave her be,” Astra told me with a shrug as she wrote out another report on the Fort Rozz prisoners “it’s not harming anyone”

“It’s weird!” I hissed as I took a swig of cold coffee, Astra put down her pencil (she likes writing by hand, apparently she finds it soothing) and gave me a ‘look’

“Your sister is an alien, you live with another alien who is also your sister’s aunt, and whom you are currently dating, and your director is, unbeknownst the rest of the DEO, the last survivor of Mars,” she raised an eyebrow challenging at me “I would think that Agent Vasquez’s staring at a length of computer code for over an hour would be the least ‘weird’ thing in your life” she went back to her report, and I went back to my cold coffee and scowling at the back of Vasquez’s head

“It’s still weird”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Kara**

“You know,” James began “he’s been mumbling to himself like that for the last hour,” he nodded to where Winn was sitting at my dinning table furiously typing away with enough of my snacks to keep him feed for a week “isn’t that like the first sign of—”

“Genius?” I interrupted digging into the party-sized bag of torttia chips on my lap, James just shook his head at me and then stanched the bag away from me and dug out a handful of chips

“Thanks” he said as he handed it back to me and popped at chip into his mouth, thank god he’s so good-looking, otherwise I’d zapped him heat vision for stealing my chips, not even Alex gets to steal my chips. Wait, why did I just think James was good-looking? I mean he is, but I don’t think of him in, you know, that way

“I’m not mumbling,” Winn suddenly spoke up, sounding insulted “I’m writing code, it just helps to say it out loud,” he explained as James and I got up and walked over to the table “OK,” he sighed “this hacker’s created what’s call an ‘oscillating variable matrix’ to cover her footprints,” he nodded to himself “’diabolical’ would not be an inappropriate word choice for her”

“But…?” I encouraged

“But, I’ve created an inversion pathway that’ll, hopefully, allow us to track her down”

“Hopefully?” James asked, Winn shrugged as he started typing again  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

“Astra?” Vasquez suddenly called out, Astra and I looked up “do you know of any aliens that are good with computers?”

“Define ‘good’, Agent Vasquez” Astra asked

“Like…second nature, like they’re born with computers for brains” Vasquez explained, I watched as Astra frowned

“The only species I know of with that type of ability would be the Coluans, from Colu” she said

“The Coluans?” I asked, she nodded

“They’re interesting species,” she began “they were born with incredibly sophisticated brains, to the point that their minds functioned like computers,” she explained “supposedly, over a thousand years ago, the entire species decided that they didn’t want to hampered by the weakness of physical bodies and uploaded their minds to a single cyber construct, becoming pure information”

“That’s incredible” I exclaimed, Astra shrugged

“Perhaps, personally it sounds a rather boring existence,” she smirked at me “after all,” she purred “what is life without its… _pleasures_?” I turned away from the Siren in front me

“Vasquez, where’s this all about, anyway?” I asked, hoping the heat in my veins would go away soon. Vasquez shook her head

“I found…something buried in the Wi-Fi signals,” she explained “some new kind of code” 

“What’s wrong with that?” I asked, I’m a bioengineer, give me a blob of goo and can tell you what it ate for breakfast two years ago, computers…not so much

“It’s…I don’t know…weird,” Vasquez explained “it changes, flows almost, like it’s…alive” I suddenly got a sinking feeling in my gut

“This code, was it in the signal that was used to change traffic lights last night?” I asked, again Vasquez shrugged

“There’s no way of knowing now, ma’am, the hacker covered her tracks pretty well”

“But it _could_ have been?” I insisted, Vasquez shrugged

“Sure” she said

“What are you thinking?” Astra asked

“You said that the Coluans all uploaded their minds to a giant mainframe, right?” she nodded “so basically they’re all living computers now, just pure information, right? Changing the color of the traffic lights would be easy for one of them” she shook her head

“The Coluans are isolationists, Alex; they care little, if at all, for the affairs of others,” she explained, she paled suddenly “unless…” she whispered

“Unless what?” I encouraged

“I’m must be going senile!” she snarled, raking her hands through her hair in frustration “the majority of the Coluans were isolationists, but there were some who offered their services as supercomputers on Krypton,” she explained “they were responsible for managing day-to-day operations, and out of those few, there was only one who was ever imprisoned in Fort Rozz, a descendent of the Brainiac Clan. She was sentenced to Fort Rozz after she shut down Krypton’s entire defense network in an attempt to eradicate our entire populace. She was considered to be the most dangerous prisoner ever sent to Fort Rozz,” she smirked humorlessly at me, like she was sharing an inside joke “even the guards wouldn’t dare go near her” she added, I gulped as I remember just how the guards in Fort Rozz treated the prisoners  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Kara**

“Winn?” I asked, he grunted as he kept typing “what did you mean by ‘hopefully’?”

“Huh? Oh, uh, well, remember how I said that she was covering her footprints?” I nodded, he shrugged “well, I mean, for we know she could be organizing these attack from the other side of the globe” he explained

 _“No,”_ the three us looked down to see the hacker appear on Winn’s computer, she grinned _“just from the other side of you screen”_  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

“Hank,” I called out “Astra and I have reason to believe the hacker behind last night’s cyber attack is an alien known as a ‘Coluan’, specially one who was imprisoned in Fort Rozz” I explained as he came over

“Agent Danvers?” Vasquez suddenly called out “the signal just moved, its coming from your sister’s apartment now, ma’am” 

“Why would the signal be coming from your sister’s apartment?” J’onn asked, I groaned as the bottom of my stomach dropped away

“Because Kara and Winn were going to try and track down the hacker,” I explained “tonight,” I turned to Astra “can Coluans interact with the physical world?” I asked

“They’re technology is extremely advanced,” she explained “advanced enough to convert digital information into solid matter” J’onn nodded grimly

“Agent Vasquez, keep monitoring that signal,” he ordered, he nodded at me and Astra “Agent Danvers, Agent In-ze, with me!” Astra and I stared at each other as J’onn walked away

“Agent In-ze?” I repeated, J’onn glanced back over his shoulder at us

“Today, people!” he barked  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

**Kara**

_“You know,”_ the hacker continued _“you’re fairly clever, for an ape”_

“And you are freaking me out for an evil blonde computer face” Winn stammered

 _“Then let’s talk in person”_ she replied

“Name the time and place” I demanded, I could feel that Supergirl confidence settling on my shoulders. The hacker grinned

 _“How about now?”_ she purred, the screen suddenly seemed to shatter into a swarm of bright blue triangles which rushed towards us as it swirled around in the air before forming a tall, blue-skinned woman with red hair. She grinned at me

“Super…girl” she mocked

“That symbol, I’ve seen it before” I stared at the symbol on her forehead, three glowing red dots arranged in an upside down triangle, she grinned

“The sign of my people,” she hissed “the font of omniscience knowledge,” she stepped closer to me “I know everything about you” she hissed

“Wha-what are you…some, some kind of living internet?” Winn suddenly stammered out. The woman glanced over at him like he was bug under her shoe

“You might call me that,” she held up her hand, fingers like claws, before she hit me in the chest, hard enough to throw me out the window. When I flew back in I found her holding James and Winn each in a chokehold, one hand around each of their throats. She grinned as she held them up off the floor “now, which one of your friends should I skin first?” she hissed when my door suddenly burst open, Hank, Alex, and Astra stormed in, guns drawn

“Hold it right there! Hold it right there!!” Hank bellowed, the woman snarled in frustration and threw both James and Winn away like toys before she turned back into a swarm of blue and slithered back into the laptop

“Oh, thank god we have our personal black ops team” Winn gasped out as he shakily got to his feet

“Is everyone all right?” Alex asked as she, Hank, and Astra lowered their guns, I nodded

“Yeah, James?” he nodded as he stood up, rubbing at his throat

“Yeah,” he grunted “Winn, you OK buddy?”

“Oh, yeah,” Winn gasped “sure, I’m gonna be having nightmares for months, but yeah, I’m fine” I grinned a little at him and turned back to the other three and nodded to the hallway, Alex, Hank, and Astra following me  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Not that I’m complaining,” I began once we were in the hall outside my apartment “but how did you guys get here so fast?” I asked

“We tracked a signal buried in the Wi-Fi that was used to change the traffic lights last night,” Alex explained “an alien signal from something called a ‘Coluan’ and it led us here” well now I know where I’ve seen that symbol before

“But …the Coluans are isolationists,” I remembered “they don’t care about anybody”

“Yeah, well,” Alex sighed “this one was imprisoned in Fort Rozz, according to Astra she tried to wipe out Krypton’s entire population” I nodded

“And now she’s trying again here on Earth” I realized

“But why now?” Astra wondered “she’s had ample opportunity to do so before, why strike now?”

“Maybe because she’s a genocidal maniac,” Alex pointed out with a shrug “I mean she’s clearly nuts” Astra shook her head

“No, the Coluans don’t do anything without a reason,” she explained, she frowned “for that matter, neither do Martians,” she grumbled as she turned to Hank “why did you give me a weapon?”

“You’d rather he hadn’t?” Alex asked as Hank smiled at Astra

“Standard operating procedure for all DEO agents, Agent In-ze” he explained, I looked at Astra feeling a little bug-eyed

“’Agent In-ze’?” I squeaked out “you’re a DEO agent now?” I asked “when did this happen?!”

“Fifteen minutes ago, apparently” Alex grumbled

“The information Astra’s provided about the Fort Rozz escapees, as well as other alien species out there, has allowed the DEO to stop more alien threats in the past month than is has in the past decade,” Hank explained “I’d say that entitles her to a job offer,” he nodded to Astra “provided that she behaves herself, of course” he added

“Of course” Astra said, as innocent as a puppy, Hank narrowed his eyes at her, clearly not believing her for a second. He finally nodded and turned back to Alex and me

“I’ll go back to the DEO and coordinate with Agent Vasquez, see if we can try to get a fix on this Coluan,” he explained, he glanced at Alex and Astra “you two go home and get some rest, that’s an order,” he said as he turned to leave. He stopped suddenly and leaned into my doorway “Mt. Schott?” he called out

“Uh, yeah?” Winn asked, I watched as Hank smirked

“Try and stay out of trouble” he said, as Alex and I grinned at each other, and even Astra smirked


	7. Indigo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and Astra try to have an intimate moment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I flipped the whole 'Non/Indigo' thing around, hope that doesn't bother anyone

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

“I need a drink,” I groaned as I flopped down on my couch, I looked up to see Astra staring at her ankle, specifcally the one with the tracking anklet on it “you know, you might be able to get that thing off now,” I explained “now that you’re a DEO agent and all”

“One can always hope,” she muttered as she sat down next me, she sighed as she leaned back “I think I need a drink as well” she muttered, I chuckled

“You know,” I began “there are more… _enjoyable_ ways of reducing stress” Astra chuckled, dark and low as she turned to me

“And here I thought I was going to have to continue teasing you mercilessly” she remarked, one hand going to the back of my head, her fingers curling in my hair, I grinned

“Nope,” I said as I leaned in “although, you could’ve just said something” I pointed out, she pulled back, playfully pouting

“Now, what fun in that?” she asked “it’s always more enjoyable if there some… _anticipation_ beforehand” she added

“Astra?”

“Hmm?”

“Shut up and kiss me” I told her, and she just did that, and it was good, really good, like fire in my blood good, and then…my fucking phone rang

“Not…happening” I groaned against Astra’s lips

“You should answer that,” Astra whispered “it might be important” she added, even as she placed little nibbles along my jaw line. I groaned and dug my phone out of my pocket

“What!” I demanded, in hindsight I probably should’ve checked the caller ID

 _“Thanks for the ride”_ a woman’s voice purred, I dropped the phone at the sudden painful electronic shriek in my ear. Tiny glowing blue triangles suddenly swarmed out of the phone’s screen, swirling around to form into the same blue-skinned humanoid we encountered at Kara’s apartment

“I calculated less than a twenty-six point three percent chance that you’d actually join the humans, and less than ten percent that you’d actually end up mating with one,” she sighed and shrugged “of course percentages never meant much to you, did they Astra?”

“And out of what _pit_ did you just drag yourself from?” Astra snarled as we bolted up off the couch, the Coluan sighed as she glanced around the room

“To think, I used to be part of the Great Coluan Cyber Construct,” she sighed “and now, I roam the same realm as _Candy Crush_ ,” she sneered “by the way,” she said as she turned to face us “I call myself ‘Indigo’ these days”

“It suits you,” Astra commented “far better than Braniac 8 ever did, after all the rest of your clan was highly respectable” she added with a sneer

“I am my own woman,” Indigo replied, she smirked “I hear you are too,” she glanced at me “well, almost” she added

“Is that meant to be your condolences?” Astra spat, Indigo scowled

“Ugh, no. I despised Non,” she grinned almost lecherously at Astra “I much preferred you,” she hissed “of course,” she added with a slight pout “you had to go and break my heart” and I wondered just what their past history was

“You need a heart first in order to have a broken one,” Astra shot back “you’ve only revealed yourself now because Non is dead. Why?” Indigo sneered again and marched forward

“To show you that your pathetic notion of living alongside the humans should die with him,” she snarled, she shook her head “no matter the world, predators cannot live with prey,” she glanced at me at the last word. I jumped in surprise when Astra’s hand suddenly shot out and wrapped around Indigo’s throat, Indigo just chuckled at Astra even as she gasped for air “I forgot how much you enjoyed a good choking” she grinned

“I broke you heart once,” Astra commented “I promise you that I will do far worse now. What have you done?” Indigo slowly reached up and pulled Astra’s hand off her throat

“Just enough,” she said with a shrug “I turned the wheel,” she explained “hell is coming to Earth, and only the Kryptonians and I will survive it,” she leaned in close, grinning “see you after the apocalypse!” she hissed then swirled back into my phone, vanishing. Astra glanced back at me

“I’ll explain later” she said

“You’d better” I told her


	8. Flirt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and Astra have a talk about Indigo, Astra cleans some more

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter, while exploring Astra and Indigo's past, is largely fluff and filler. Sorry

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I know I seem shaky  
These hands not fit for holding  
But if you let me, oh  
I will see you right

\--Florence + the Machine “Hiding”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

“Is this thing safe?” I asked as I stared at my phone, which was still lying on the floor where I’d dropped it when Indigo made her visit. Astra looked down from where she was floating up near the ceiling armed with a sponge and a bucket of soapy water. Yep she cleans when she’s upset; on the upside my place has never looked better

“It’s perfectly safe” she assured me

“Are you sure?” I asked

“Yes,” Astra insisted “Coluans can’t function as separate parts, it would like you or I leaving behind a limb after we walked through a door” she explained. I gingerly picked up the phone and put it down on the coffee table, as far away from me as possible, I don’t what she says, I’m still getting a new one

“So,” I began “you and Indigo have a past?” Astra chuckled

“A harmless flirtation, nothing more” she explained

“How does that even work?” I wondered, trying not to gag at the thought “I mean Indigo doesn’t even have a body half the time, she’s just…data and binary code and…ugh! I can’t even think about it!” 

“Alex,” Astra chuckled as she scrubbed at the brown spot that’s been on my ceiling ever since I moved in “you’re forgetting, I’m not human,” she pointed out, scowling at the spot, which refused to even fade slightly under her scrubbing “I was born and raised on a world where contact with a wide variety of alien species was not only commonplace but normal,” she continued as she scrubbed harder at the spot “believe me when I say, I’ve had far more…interesting relationships than a brief flirtation with an insane Coluan cyber construct” she let out a frustrated little snarl and scrubbed even harder at the spot

“How…‘interesting’ were those other relationships?” I demanded, Astra stopped scrubbing (which was good actually because I could see the plaster starting to peel and flake) and smirked at me

“Let’s just say that, compared to some of my past lovers, you’re perhaps the most ‘normal’ partner I’ve had in regards to appearance” she explained, she scowled at the spot and then floated back down and put the sponge and bucket in the kitchen sink

“How many of those ‘past lovers’ were female?” I asked, feeling bold, Astra smirked as she came over and sat down next to me

“Not counting Non, all of them,” she answered “we had no taboos on same-sex relationships on Krypton, nor any taboos on what you’d call ‘adultery’ since marriages were more about social and political mobility than actual love,” she explained “that being said,” she continued “most of my past relationships, even before I was married, and indeed after, were merely…dalliances, what you might call ‘flings’, physical only, there was little affection, and certainly no love, involved” she explained

“That doesn’t mean I have to like it” I grumbled

“I’m not saying you do,” she replied “but, certainly you must have former lovers”

“Of course I do”

“And do you honestly think that I wouldn’t react in the same way you are right now if our positions were reversed?” she asked, I sighed as I realized she was right, I wasn’t mad at her, I was jealous, crazy I know, to be jealous of a psychotic living alien computer, but there it is

“I hate it when you’re right,” I grumbled, Astra just chuckled and pulled me close “just tell me one thing,” I began “if I had asked about your ‘past lovers’ would you have said anything?”

“Yes,” she answered “I would’ve told you the truth”

“So if I had asked ‘did you ever flirt with a living alien computer’ you would have said ‘yes’?” I asked, feeling doubtful

“Yes,” she replied, she sighed and pressed a kiss to my temple “I have been living here for a month, Alex, and in all that time, have I ever lied to you? Indeed even when we were enemies did I lie then?”

“No” I realized, even when she let herself be captured by the DEO she didn’t lie, she just didn’t say anything

“There’s another way of looking at this,” she began “simply think of this as an added incentive to defeat Indigo”

“Yeah,” I agreed “now I really want to kick her ass”

“Good” she smiled, pulling me back to rest against her side; I rested my head against her shoulder and stared up at the ceiling, feeling content and happy again. I frowned when something caught my eye

“Astra?”

“Yes, love?”

“You do know that that spot is still there, right?” I pointed out

“I know,” she groaned, sounding defeated “its taunting me” she whined. I couldn’t help it

I laughed

“Oh, look at you, the big badass Kryptonian general, brought her knees by a spot!” I laughed, Astra smirked

“I’d much rather bring _you_ to your knees” she said, I froze and flopped back on the couch with a groan

“How do you do that?!” I demanded

“Do what?”

“That!” I spat “you can turn almost every word that comes out of your mouth into something sexual” Astra shrugged

“Are you complaining?” she asked, I huffed

“Unfortunately” I grumbled

“Unfortunately?” she echoed

“Unfortunately, in that we can’t do anything about it right now,” I explained “or rather I can’t do anything about it, all I can do is just sit here and _stew_ in my own hormones while you bat your eyelashes at me” Astra blinked at me

“I have no idea what you just said” she said

“Flirt!” I snarled “all I can do is just sit here while you flirt at me!” I snarled, she gently gripped my arm, calming me

“When this is over,” she began, her eyes glinting dangerously “I promise you that I will most certainly ‘do’ something about it” I shivered at the implication

“I…look forward to it” I finally managed to get out, Astra just smirked at me

“I know you do” she purred


	9. Hurricane

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alex and Astra head to CatCo to recruit Winn

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there, welcome to the next chapter of What we are pt 3, for those of you who felt cheated in the last chapter (i.e. that Astra and Indigo's past was just 'harmless flirtation') there's a reason for that, the reason being idea of them actually DOING anything else besides flirting just gave ME the creepies, as Alex said Indigo doesn't even have a body half the time. That being said, this story is far from over and maybe I'll get enough courage later on to go into more detail

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

No walls can keep me protected  
No sleet—nothing between me and the rain  
And you can’t save me now, I’m in the grip of a hurricane

\--Florence + the Machine “Hurricane Drunk”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

Entering the CatCo lobby twice in the same week was down right surreal, the only differences were that, one it was the middle of the day, two I wasn’t carrying a bag of takeout, and three a confused Astra was trailing along with me

“I can’t believe that she’s never invited you here” I said as we stepped out of the elevators

“I never asked,” Astra answered as she looked around “I didn’t see the point of it” she explained as she winced and wobbled, like she was dizzy

“Hey,” I grabbed her arm “you OK?” she nodded

“It’s just…this place…” she muttered, a clear note of pain in her voice. I looked around at the crowds of people jostling past each other as they talked on their cell phones or guzzled coffee and winced in sympathy when I realized that Astra hadn’t really been ‘outside’ for the past month, all that time she’d spent either at my place, Kara’s, the DEO, or Winn’s place that one time. I took her hand, gently tapping out a beat on her palm

“Just focus on me,” I said softly as I counted out the beat “one…two…three…four…that’s it, block everything else out, and just focus on me, focus on my voice, on my hand,” I watched as she slowly straightened up, taking a deep breath “you OK?” I asked, she nodded

“Yes, I’m fine now,” she said, she frowned “not that I’m complaining, but how did you…?”

“Kara used to get overwhelmed too when she first came here,” I explained “my Dad figured out that she needed to focus on something, anything really, a certain person’s voice, the hum of the AC, and use it as an anchor,” I explained “that’s part of the reason why she wears the glasses, the frames are lined with lead, dulls her senses a little, makes the world a bit more bearable” Astra nodded

“And here I thought it was just poor fashion sense on her part” she joked, I chuckled and started to pull my hand away, only for Astra to tighten her grip slightly, and I saw that she was still nervous, still overwhelmed, clearly afraid that if I let go of her hand she’d go spiraling out of control

“OK,” I said softly, I shifted my arm so that her arm was looped into my arm at the elbow “come on” I said, nodding to the main newsroom. I hid my smile as she paused to stare at that gaudy pink cat sculpture

“What…is this?” she asked

“Its art” I shrugged, Astra turned and stared at me, looking a little bug-eyed

“It’s hideous!” she exclaimed, I shrugged again

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” I reminded her “stop right there!” I ordered when it looked like she was going to speak “I know you, you were going to say something flirty again” I hissed, she grinned, that slow, lazy smirk

“Obviously you don’t know me as well as you think, Alexandra,” she purred, god how I loved to hear her say my full name, normally I hate it, but the way she says it is pure sex “I was merely going to comment on the fact that we had a similar expression back on Krypton” she continued, I bit the inside of my cheek as I felt that familiar wave of heat rush through me at her words, it was either getting blood in my mouth or throwing Astra up against the wall and doing all sorts of dark and wonderful things to her right here in front everyone

“Are you trying to kill me?!” I hissed “we’re in public! At _Kara’s office!_ You know, Kara, your niece!” I added, Astra nodded slowly

“So we are,” she agreed “well observed”

“Alex, Astra, hey!” I looked up as Winn came over, he smiled at as us and actually gave Astra a high five, which she happily returned “hey, almost didn't recognize you," he said to Astra "you know, without the, outfit" I looked down at Astra's clothes, a dark blue button-down blouse, blue jeans, and a pair of sturdy work boots

"Alex suggested that it would have been too conspicuous" Astra replied mildly, that and if I saw her that stupid catsuit one more time I was going to tear it off her. With my teeth. Winn just nodded

"Well, hey, just wait here a sec, I’ll go get Kara” he said

“Actually, we’re here to see you” I explained, pleased that, as a woman, I could hide the fact that I was aroused as hell

“You are?” both Astra and Winn asked at the same time

“We are Agent In-ze” I confirmed, Winn grinned

“’Agent In-ze’?” he repeated “hey, cool! Congrats, Astra!” he held up his hand in a high five again, which Astra returned, then a low five, and finally an honest-to-god fist bump. Dear lord they’ve got a secret handshake

“Alex, hey,” Kara hurried over and ushered the three of us into a corner off to the side “is everything OK?” she asked

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” I assured her, and everything was fine except for the fact that Astra was trying to kill me with innuendo and sexy smirks “our friend in blue paid us a visit last night” I explained

“Are you guys all right?” both Kara and Winn asked, Astra smiled at them

“We’re fine” she said

“Which is why we’re here,” I explained “we need to borrow Winn for a while” I explained, I was about to launch into a speech I’d mentally written out about how Winn’s computer skills made him the perfect asset in trying to take Indigo down when Lucy walked over. I was stunned when she gave Astra and me a small smile; frankly I’d been expecting the cold shoulder

“Winn, Alex,” she greeted warmly, OK so Kara was still on her shit list. She smiled at Astra, an honest smile, like she was actually making an effort “Agent In-ze” Astra nodded back respectfully, giving Lucy a little half bow

“Major Lane” she acknowledged, her voice held respect, which I suppose as a soldier she would have respect for a fellow soldier, even if Lucy quit the Army. I cleared my throat to get everyone’s attention

“Sorry, but, uh, Winn?” I asked, he blinked and I noticed that he was staring at Lucy, oh god not another love triangle

“Sorry,” he shook his head and turned to me “uh, you were saying something about needing my help?”

“Yeah, we were hoping you could help us track down our cyber threat” I explained, Winn nodded

“Yeah, sure,” he said, he glanced at Kara “unless, you don’t want me to?” Kara shook his head

“No, no, go” she said, Winn grinned

“Cool” we turned to go when…

“Ker-iah!” god, how does she do that?! I thought as Cat Grant marched up to us. She glanced between us, slowly studying each of us “what are you doing?” she finally asked

“Oh, uh…” Kara started

“You see, Ms. Grant we were just…” Winn this time

“It’s very simple…” Lucy next

“Save it!” Cat snapped, she glanced at Astra and me “ah, yes, the other Danvers sister…Alice was it?”

“Alex” Kara muttered quietly, Cat nodded sharply

“And this, I’m assuming, is your sister-in-law?” Cat asked, nodding at Astra

“What!” Kara squeaked “uh, no, uh, actually Ms. Grant this, uh, this is my aunt, Astra” I watched as Cat’s eyes narrowed at Astra

“Really?” she drawled “I didn’t know you came from hillbilly stock, Ker-iah,” Kara choked on air “because,” Cat continued “from the way these two are undressing each other with their eyes I’d say they were still in the honeymoon stage”

“Actually,” Astra began, staring down Cat with ease “it’s quite simple, Alex is Kara’s foster sister, I am her biological relative” Cat nodded, slowly this time

“Ah, yes, I seem to remember her mentioning that she was adopted,” she commented “tell me…Astra, was it? Just where were you after Kara’s parents died?” I could see that she disliked Astra, she was a mother, so in her eyes, because she hadn’t taken Kara in after her parents died, Astra was scum

“Prison” Astra answered easily, I felt a little surge of smugness as I saw Cat jerk back slightly

“I see,” she said slowly “and just, _what_ , were you in prison for?” she drawled “if you don’t mind my asking?” she added, clearly nor apologetic at all

“Eco-terrorism” was Astra’s easy answer, Cat nodded slowly

“Well,” she said at last “as much as I’m enjoying this little family reunion we have work to do here, so…” she waved her hand dismissively at Astra and me “new girls, go,” she nodded at Kara “old girl, stay”

“Uh, Ms. Grant?” Winn spoke up, looking like he was about to wet himself “uh, actually, Alex and Astra need my help with something, uh, it’s important, _really_ important actually, like, you know--”

“Yes, yes, whatever, Wilt,” Cat waved her hand at him too, already turning to leave “I’m sure they need you to debug their computer, or be the third in a ménages a trios, or whatever” she added as she marched off again

“I, uh, I’ve never had a, uh, ménages a trios” Winn said suddenly once Cat was back in her office, looking at the rest of us

“Oh my god! Winn! Why would you say that?!” Kara demanded, cringing

“Yeah,” Lucy pitched in “sounds like maybe you’re protesting too much” she teased; Winn turned about twenty different shades of red, I shook my head

“You’re all a bunch of children” I complained

“I am not a child,” Astra spoke up, she leaned in closer to me “as I’m sure you’re well aware” she murmured, Lucy groaned

“Oh, geez, Cat was right; you two need to get a room” she complained

“Hey, I never said there was anything going on between us” I pointed out, Lucy rolled her eyes

“You don’t have to, Danvers,” she fired back “astronauts on the space station can see it”

“OK!” Kara interrupted, clearly uncomfortable “why don’t you guys take Winn and head over to the DEO”

“Actually, I’d prefer to stay” Astra piped up

“Of course you would” I muttered

“I’m certain that Kara or James can supervise me while you and Winn track down Indigo” she explained, I sighed and rolled my eyes, knowing I wouldn’t be able to stop her

“OK, hang on,” I marched over to James’ office and knocked on the door before poking my head inside “James?” he looked up

“Alex, hey!” he greeted warmly “what brings you by?”

“Nothing much,” I replied “Director Henshaw wants Winn to help us track down this alien cyber threat” I explained, since when did I become so comfortable around Kara’s friends that I can discuss top secret information?

“I’m sure he’d happy to help” James replied

“Oh, he is, that’s not why I’m here, I need you to watch Astra”

“Uh, what?” James stared at me, I sighed

“Astra wants to stay here, while I go with Winn to the DEO, and since Kara’s running around after Cat…” James nodded

“…you need someone to keep an eye on Astra while she’s here,” he finished “uh, OK, that’s fine,” he said “just tell me what I need to do” I sighed and ran a hand through my hair

“Just…keep her occupied,” I explained “and for god’s sakes don’t let her get bored!”

“Bored?” he echoed, I nodded

“Yeah, she’s like a kid with ADD or something, so give her something to do, teach her about photography, something, as long as it keeps her attention,” I explained, I turned to leave “oh, by the way, when she’s upset she starts to clean everything she can get her hands on, just go with it” I felt bad as I left James standing there looking more than a little scared  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The car ride back to the DEO with Winn was pretty quiet on both our parts, he’d asked to turn on the radio and happily listened to one of my oldies stations without a peep, it was when we were halfway to the DEO that he suddenly spoke up

“Hey, Alex?” he asked “can I ask you a question?”

“Sure”

“Uh, you and Astra, is it…you know…serious?” I blinked at that

“I’d like to think so. Why?”

“I just…I don’t know, dating your sister’s alien aunt?” I could see him shrug out of the corner of my eye, I chuckled

“I know, it’s weird,” I said “hell, Astra doesn’t even like it if I refer to her as ‘Kara’s aunt’; she’s always calls her ‘Kara’ or ‘your sister’ to me,” I told him, I frowned “why do you ask?”

“Oh, I was just thinking, back there at CatCo, Ms. Grant was right, you two were, you know, making ‘googly eyes’ at each other, and I guess, I don’t know, I figure that if Ms. Grant can see it then, it must be serious” he explained, I nodded in quiet understanding as I pulled up to the DEO perimeter

“Yeah, it’s serious all right” I agreed, he nodded as he unbuckled his seatbelt

“It’s nice isn’t it?” he asked suddenly

“What is?” I asked as we got out of the car

“Being in love” he replied with a small smile, I grinned back

“Yeah,” I agreed “it is,” as we walked towards the guard station I turned to him “hey, Winn?”

“Yeah?”

“You’ll find somebody” I told him, and I meant it, he smiled shyly at me

“Hope so” he replied


	10. Fireworks

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Winn finds Indigo's next target and we get a peek inside Astra's head

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  
My boy builds coffins  
He makes them all day  
But it's not just for work  
And it isn't for play

He's made one for himself  
One for me too  
One of these days  
He'll make one for you

\--Florence + the Machine "My Boy Builds Coffins"  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

This place was strange

This…’CatCo’ where Kara worked, it was loud, chaotic, and the oft-talked Cat Grant was nowhere near as frightening as I was led to believe. I sat with James Olsen, away from the cacophony of the main room; I followed Alex’s advice and tapped my hand on the surface of the table in front of me rhythmically in order to focus. A sigh caught my attention and I looked up at James

“Could you…not do that?” he requested, I looked down at my hand and stopped

“My apologies, the sound keeps me…focused” I explained, James nodded

“Keeps you from getting overwhelmed,” he reasoned, I nodded “yeah, Clark told me that happened to him too as a kid” I frowned at that

“Oh, you mean Kal-El” I realized, he nodded

“You know him?” he asked, sounding genuinely curious, I shook my head

“No, I know of him, of course, but I hardly knew Jor-El or Lara,” I explained “nor was I even all that close to Kara’s father for that matter, despite his being married to my sister”

“Tell me about them,” James requested as he sat down next to me “Kara’s parents” he elaborated, I studied him, I knew Kara fancied him, as he did her, were it not for Lucy Lane they would most likely be an ‘item’ by now as my brave Alex would say, and I like him as an individual, I prefer Winn’s companionship, but I like James Olsen, he was kind, understanding, and a good and loyal friend to Kara

“What would you wish to know?” I asked, he shrugged

“Whatever you want to tell me” he replied

“Tell me about Lucy Lane then” I requested, I watched as he paled, but before he could answer Kara walked into the room

“Oh, am I interrupting anything?” she asked

“No, not at all” James replied much too quickly, clearly grateful for her interruption, Kara, of course, saw none of this, and instead approached me

“Aunt Astra, I got you something,” she held up a cellular phone “ta-da!” she proclaimed “you see, Alex mentioned about how you couldn’t get in touch with her during Indigo’s cyber attack so I got you your own phone!” she seemed absurdly pleased with this fact I noted, pleased to give her favorite aunt a present again I realized. 

I smiled at her and took the device from her, feeling touched beyond measure, it had been such a long time since she had given me a gift with such enthusiasm, even after my defection, during this past month she hadn’t given me any gifts I realized, perhaps because she thought they wouldn’t be accepted I realized

“Thank you, little one” I replied, she blushed

“It’s not a new one, it’s just your basic model, no Wi-Fi, or streaming” she explained, as if the lack of such things were somehow a negative aspect

“I have no need for such things, Kara,” I reminded her “as long as I can contact Alex” I explained, Kara beamed again

“I already programmed all her numbers in it, along with all of mine,” she said, she took the phone from me and tapped the screen twice before handing it back to me “see?” and I could see under ‘contacts’ were the headings ‘Alex, cell’, ‘Alex, home’, ‘Alex, work’, ‘Kara, cell’, ‘Kara, home’, ‘Kara, work’, and ‘Kara, other’

“What does this one mean? ‘Kara, other’?” I asked

“Oh, that’s my other line,” Kara explained “for when I’m…you know…at my…other job”

“Oh, for when you’re Supergirl” I realized, she nodded then brightened

“Oh, I almost forgot, James, Ms. Grant wants those layouts” she said, James sighed

“Right” he groaned as they began to dig through the pile of photographs on the table

“James?” Kara asked suddenly, she held up a photograph of a bird caught in mid-flight, wings outstretched “why did you take a picture of a bird outside your window?”

“He didn’t,” I replied “I did” Kara looked up at me surprised

“Aunt Astra, you took this?” she asked

“Yeah, she’s really got an eye for it” James enthused when a knock at the door caught our attention, we all looked up as Lucy Lane hovered in the doorway

“Am I interrupting?” she asked

“No, come on in” James invited  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

“How’s it coming Mr. Schott?” J’onn demanded from behind Winn as I paced next to him

“Still working on it” Winn mumbled as he typed away

“You know Brainiac 8, you cracked her code,” J’onn reminded him “if you can successfully decrypt her signal you’ll lead us right to her”

“You realize that I’m learning an alien coding language in the same amount of time it takes to watch an episode of _Doctor Who_ , right?” Winn asked with a small chuckle, his grin fell flat when J’onn just scowled “that’s, like really fast” he muttered and kept typing, I gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze

"Keep at it, Winn," I encouraged as I watched the Kryptonian symbols scroll across the screen, I shivered as I remembered Indigo's words about hell coming to Earth "you have to" I added quietly

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

“So, I’ve been thinking,” Lucy began “why would an alien computer who tried to exterminate the entire population of Krypton start with a sleazy website like DiamondDisrections.com? Then I realized it wasn’t about that at all,” she held up a file folder and dropped it onto the table “General Jonathan Mathers”

“Who’s he?” Kara asked as we all looked through the file

“He was one of the members on the DiamondDiscretions.com hack” Lucy explained

“Yeah, but lots of people were,” James pointed out “movie stars, businessmen, what sets him apart from the rest?”

“His rank” I realized, I reached for the cell phone Kara had given me and quickly pressed ‘Alex, cell’  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

I looked up at the sudden chirp from the computer

"Winn, please tell me you got her?" I said as J'onn and I came over

“Fort Pemberton,” Winn said with a nod “that’s, that’s where she’s going”

“How do you know?” I asked

“Well,” he began “the Kryptonian language is like…intergalactic Russian, OK? So, when I compared the symbols to their Slavic equi—”

“I don’t care” J’onn interrupted, I watched as Winn deflated

“Right, right,” he muttered “I, uh, I cracked the code,” he grinned, J’onn just gave him a ‘look’ and poor Winn deflated even further “and, uh there are coordinates that, uh match, to Fort Pemberton” he explained. J’onn glanced at me

“Why there?” he wondered, I shook my head

"I don't know," I answered, I frowned “wait...Fort Pemberton is the nearest nuclear missile silo to National City” I realized

"Wait. you don't think...?" Winn began, I nodded

"I think that's exactly why she's going there." I said "when she confronted Astra and me last night, she said that 'hell was coming to earth', and we know that she tried to wipe out Krypton's population, so what if she's trying again here?" I suggested

“But Fort Pemberton's completely off-grid,” J’onn pointed out “so is every other nuclear missile silo out there, no internet access, that way no one can hack in and remotely launch a missile”

“So how she’s going to get in?” Winn wondered when my cell phone rang, this time I checked the caller ID, I didn’t recognize the number, but something told me to answer it

“Hello?”

_“Alex”_

“Astra?”

 _“Yes, I know what Indigo’s next target is”_ she explained

“Fort Pemberton, we know, Winn just figured it out,” I answered “what we can’t figure out is how she's going to get in...how do you know about Fort Pemberton?”

 _“I know how,”_ Astra answered, ignoring my question _“General Jonathan Mathers, according to his Department of Defense file he is the current commander of Fort Pemberton”_ she explained, I was getting confused

“Wait, how did you get General Mathers file? Where are you?”

 _“I’m still at CatCo, Major Lane is the one who retrieved General Mathers’ file…one moment”_ there was a shuffling sound and then Lucy’s voice came through

 _“Alex, its Lucy, listen, I figured it out,”_ she explained _“Mathers was part of the DiamondDiscretions.com hack, OK, now, all of his personal information was stolen from the site. Indigo’s attack wasn’t about targeting banks or changing traffic lights, it was about declassifying General Mathers’ online footprint, to find—”_

“…to find out who in National City has access to a nuclear launch site” I realized with a shiver

 _"Exactly,"_ Lucy exclaimed _"look, I don't know_ how, _but Indigo is going to somehow use Mathers to get into Fort Pemberton"_

“Like a Trojan horse," I realized, remembering how Indigo had easily hitched a ride in my cell phone last night, if she had access to Mathers' digital accounts she could do the same to him "all right, we’ll take it from here, thanks Lucy” I said, she chuckled

 _“Anytime”_ she answered and then hung up, almost as soon as my call ended one of the desk phones rang

“Director Henshaw,” J’onn answered, he nodded grimly “understood,” he hung up “that was the Pentagon,” he announced “someone just activated the missile silo at Fort Pemberton” he explained


	11. Countdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Astra and Kara race to stop Indigo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, cool, a triple update! I would like thank everyone for their comments and support, I'd also would like to thank snow_lilly for pointing out that Astra and Indigo's past didn't necessarily need to be sexual in nature (although if you look at the actual episodes, especially "Myriad" and "Better Angels" Indigo is defiantly using her feminine wiles on Non. At least that's how I saw it anyway), so, come chapter after this one, Alex (and you kind readers) will learn a bit more about that
> 
> Anywho, here we go!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sometimes it seems that the going is just too rough  
And things go wrong no matter what I do  
Now and then it seems that life is just too much  
But you've got the love I need to see me through

\--Florence + the Machine "You've Got The Love" (cover of "You Got The Love" by The Source)  
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

I hung up the phone, feeling sick

“That was the White House,” I announced “the President just ordered us to DEFCON 2”

“Any word from your sister or Astra?” J’onn asked, I shook my head

“I called, but they’re not answering,” I answered, I just hoped that meant one or both of them was just too busy kicking Indigo’s ass to talk, the alternative was too terrifying to think of “I’ll assemble a strike team to Fort Pemberton” I began

“You’ll never make it in time!” Winn insisted

“Sir?” Vasquez suddenly called out “satellite tracking just picked up two boogeys entering Fort Pemberton’s airspace” I turned and watched two fast-moving blips on the screen heading into Fort Pemberton’s airspace

“What the hell is that?” J’onn demanded, I felt myself grin and swell with honest-to-god pride as I answered

“That’s my family”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Kara**

When Astra and I broke into the control room at Fort Pemberton, we found Indigo just kind of lounging there, waiting for us. The bodies of General Mathers and his men were scattered around the room and I could smell what I now know is gunpowder in the air

“You’re late” Indigo commented, Astra and I charged, both of us hitting her in the face

“It’s over, Indigo!” I snarled, she just grinned

“For the human race, I agree,” she spun out of my grip, backhanding Astra across the face, and then pined us both to the floor, a hand wrapped around each of our throats “taking up the family business, Astra?” she mocked, she grinned “how touching,” her grinned widened, reminding me of a shark “you broke my heart once,” she hissed “now, I’m going to break yours,” I could feel her grip tightening on my throat “the only question is, which one do I kill first, your niece….or your mate?” she grinned even wider “how about we let fate decide?” Astra suddenly kicked Indigo off us both and rushed to her feet, I jumped when an alarm rang out

_“Nuclear missile launch in…twenty-nine….twenty-eight…”_ a recording called out. Astra and I rushed Indigo again, but she was fast, knocking our kicks and punches away like nothing. She spun onto her hands like a gymnast, kicking us both in the gut, before springing back up, grabbing me in a chokehold, she wrapped her legs around my waist and twisted me around so I could see the blast door open and watch the missile start to take off

“I calculate the death toll at seven million,” she hissed in my ear, she tightened her grip on my throat “give or take” something suddenly pulled her off me. I turned to see Astra holding Indigo in a half nelson

“Kara, go!” she ordered, I nodded and took off, smashing through the glass and up the silo after the missile  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

“Missile’s arcing towards National City, ETA three minutes” J’onn announced, he nodded towards the screen which showed a radar image of the missile closing in on National City, I watched as another blip suddenly appeared on the screen and began to close in on the missile

“I’ve got Supergirl on the line” Vasquez announced, I took the call

“Kara?”

_“Alex,”_ I could hear the wind rushing past, which meant she was flying, fast by the sound of it _“I need your help, Indigo just launched an ICBM, at National City”_ she explained

“We know, we’re tracking you both right now. Where’s Astra?”

_“She’s back at the silo fighting Indigo,”_ Kara explained _“I’m going to stop the missile”_ I nodded even though she couldn’t see me

“Kara, whatever you do, don’t use your heat vision and don’t try to tear out the warhead, if you do either of those things, it might cause the warhead to detonate”

_“Understood,”_ she replied, there was a pause and I saw the missile wobble off course on the screen before it corrected itself _“oh, it won’t change course!”_ Kara snarled out

“It’s programmed not to,” I told her “you need to get inside and shut it down manually” I explained

“I’ll talk her through it” J’onn said, I nodded and switched the comm. over to him  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

I dodged another of Indigo’s blows, pushing her back down the corridor, before I charged her as she sat up. I gasped at the sudden white-hot pain lancing through my abdomen, staring down at the blade that Indigo had formed her hand into. She merely grinned manically at me as she slowly twisted the blade before painfully wrenching it free from my body

“Whoops” she hissed as I collapsed to the floor, clutching my hand over the wound “hmm,” she sighed as she slowly rose to her feet and loomed over me “I do love wiping out a species,” she grinned “and your little pets are next” as I lay there, pain burning through me, I thought of Alex, my brave, darling Alex.

I had lost everything once, my sister, my home, my world, and after enduring a living hell, I found my dear little one again, and a woman who loved me so completely it terrified us both. I remembered an old human expression about how love gives you strength, and as Indigo--who had deceived me, tricking me with a pretense of child-like curiosity all those years ago, pretended that she believed in my cause, even helped me to design Myriad, only to try and kill all of Krypton--turned away from me, I slowly strugged to my feet

Yes, I had lost everything once, I would _not_ lose it again  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Kara**

_“You need to access the onboard flight computer,”_ Hank explained _“that’s at the top of the missile, near the nosecone”_

“Got it,” I answered as I dug my fingers into the missile’s skin and slowly crawled along it to the reach the nosecone, this was way too close for comfort, I could already see the windows on the buildings “OK, I’m at the nosecone”

_“There should be a small trapdoor, do you see it?”_ Hank asked, I looked around, finally spotting a little hatch near my left knee, it was tiny, not much bigger than a shoebox

“I see it!”

_“Good,”_ Hank answered _“you need to rip that off and get to the keypad underneath”_ he explained, I dug my fingers into the edges of the little hatch and began to peel it off like tinfoil, finding a mess of wires and circuit boards underneath it, and a small grey keypad

“I found the keypad!”

_“All right. Enter the following kill code, one-one-seven-four-seven”_ Hank instructed me, I wriggled a bit until I got a good handhold and started type in the code

One

One

Seven

But when I reached for the ‘4’ the missile suddenly hit an air pocket and I lost my grip  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

“38,000 feet” Vasquez reported, I gripped the back of Winn’s chair tighter as I watched the blinking dot on the radar screen get closer and closer to the city. I jumped when I felt a hand grip mine

“She’ll make it” Winn assured me as he squeezed my hand, I squeezed back

“I hope so” I whispered, I thought of Astra, how happy she’d been with me, how happy I’d been with her, and wondered if it was really going to end like this

“20,000 feet” Vasquez announced

“Come on” I whispered  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Kara**

_“Supergirl,”_ I heard Hank snarl out in my ear as I dragged myself back along the missile’s body. There! The keypad! Yes! The first half of the kill code was still there _“you’re out of time!”_ Hank snarled, I reached out and pressed the last two numbers and then hit ‘ENTER’

“I got it!” I yelled as the missile suddenly jumped under me and started to fall as I pulled away. I watched as it splashed down into the water, just a mile or two from the city  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

“Splashdown! No detonation!” Vasquez suddenly yelled as the blinking dot disappeared over the water. The room burst into cheers

“Oh, thank god!” Winn groaned as he flopped back in his seat, I shakily let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. Reality suddenly came back with a vengeance as I remembered that Indigo was still out there

And so was Astra  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

As I staggered to my feet, I watched as Indigo angrily slammed her hands down on a console, I could see the words ‘MISSILE ABORT’ flashing on the screen as I struggled to remain upright

“Plenty of missiles left,” she snarled “thank god for nuclear proliferation” I got to my feet and managed to throw her back from the controls

“Tell me,” I panted out as Kara entered the room through the silo, coming to stand beside me “did your calculations include that?”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

“Winn, you need to find a way to shut down the silo’s network, keep Indigo from launching another missile” I instructed, he sat up suddenly

“Actually,” he began “I think I might have a way of actually shutting her down,” he gave me a sheepish grin “I accidently wrote a pretty nasty virus a few years back”

“How nasty?” I asked, he gave me a little half smirk that he definitely picked up from Astra as he started typing again

“Pretty nasty” he said, I tapped my comm.

“Astra, hold on, help’s on the way”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

_“Astra?”_ ; I heard Alex ask again in the communications unit in my ear that Kara had hastily given to me when we set out for Fort Pemberton. In front of me, Indigo grinned 

“Who, is that you’re talking to?” she rasped out, she reached out and picked up a fallen cell phone off the floor “your little mate?” she wondered, her grin widened “I knew the two of you were too stupid to be working alone” she held up the phone and sent her other hand slithering into it  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

**Alex**

“How much longer, Winn?” I asked

“Give me thirty more seconds” he answered distractedly as he typed, his entire focus was on the screen. The screen suddenly filled with blue, an all-too familiar swarm of blue triangles swirling out to form into a blue hand and arm which suddenly grabbed Winn by the throat. I lunged forward, ready to pull it off him, when he grunted out a strained “no!” he shook his head as much as he could and kept typing

_“Look at you two,”_ I suddenly heard Indigo hiss over the comm. _“Krypton’s last daughters, the last of the Houses In-ze and El, powerless,”_ I wondered if she knew I was listening, I wondered if she even cared as she chuckled _“all I have to do is_ squeeze _my fingers and your friend dies,"_ she continued _“I am beyond a body,”_ she gloated as Winn’s fingers flew faster across the keys, he gave me a little nod _“I am beyond time and space,”_ Indigo continued _“I am invincible,”_ she proclaimed, sounding crazier by the second _“I am a **god!**_ ” 

“No,” Winn suddenly grunted out “you’re just a more annoying Windows Vista!” he stabbed his finger on the ‘ENTER” and I watched with a kind of morbid satisfaction as the words ‘UPLOADING’ and ‘UPLOAD COMPLETE’ flashed across the room’s monitors. The arm around Winn’s throat suddenly shattered into a swarm of red, and Indigo’s pained scream on the other end of the comm. was music to my ears

_“What have you done to me?!”_ I heard her demand as Winn flopped back, gasping for breath, he grinned a little as he rubbed at his throat

“I just served you a major helping of malware,” he gasped out, he took a breath “bon appetite ”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

___**Astra** _ _ _

___“What have you done to me?!” Indigo demanded again as she writhed on the floor, a red light pulsing and flashing along her form “it’s…n-not…p-p-possible!!” she shivered and gasped in pain "too...p-primative!!"_ _ _

___“I kept my promise,” I told her coldly “I told you I would do far worse than break you heart”_ _ _

___“You…,” she gasped in pain, a shower of red briefly shimmering around her left shoulder “you two wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for me!” she snarled_ _ _

___“What do you mean?” Kara asked, Indigo sneered at her_ _ _

___“How do you think Fort Rozz escaped the Phantom Zone?” she hissed “for decades, I searched the Zone with my mind, trying to find a way out, I found your pod, I activated it, and linked it to the prison,” she glowered up at us smugly “if it weren’t for me, you’d both still be trapped in that timeless void!” she hissed before she suddenly screamed in pain and shattered into a swarm of red_ _ _

_“Supergirl, Astra, you guys OK?”_ Alex asked over our communicators, Kara and I nodded, shaken by Indigo’s revelation

“Yeah,” Kara answered “we’re all right” I heard Alex sigh in relief

_“Good,”_ she said _“you both better get over here,”_ she added _“we’ve got a lot to talk about”_


	12. Strangeness and Charm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kara and Astra get back to the DEO, Astra gets a surprise, Alex learns more about Indigo's past with Astra, and Alex and she finally have an intimate moment. Complete

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TA-DA!!! The last chapter of part three of What we are, thank you for all of your support and I hope you look forward to part four

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Alex**

As Astra and Kara walked into the DEO I suddenly flashed back to the last time they had walked in together like this, back when they rescued me from Non. But this time was different, not only because I wasn’t with them, but because this time Astra wasn’t still under suspicion, this time she was one of us

“Hey” I rushed over, pulling each of them into a hug. I felt myself get a little light-headed when I saw that Astra was holding her side, blood soaking her shirt from a freshly-closed wound just above her left hip. She smiled softly and shook her head

“It’s nothing serious,” she told me “I’ve had far worse” she explained, I didn't really believe her, but I kept my mouth shut as J’onn approached us

“I just got off the phone with the President,” he began “she’s indebted to you Supergirl, she wants to give you a medal”

“Wow, really?” Kara asked, her eyes bright, J’onn smiled and nodded

“Really,” he repeated “unfortunately she can’t, largely because the government doesn’t want people to know how close we came to destruction today. As far as everyone in National City in concerned, what splashed down in the water today was nothing more than an old weather satellite falling out of orbit” he explained

“What’s going to happen to the missile anyway?” Kara asked

“It’ll be retrieved by the Air Force” J’onn explained, Astra snorted

“Where it will most likely be repaired and put back into another missile silo to await launch” she spat

“Be that as it may,” J’onn continued “the President is aware of the remarkable courage that you showed today, Astra, and has decided to dismiss any and all charges against you and grant you a full pardon as thanks”

“Yes!” Kara and I cheered; J’onn cleared his throat, which stopped us from practically doing backflips around the room

“In addition to the pardon,” he continued “the President has also agreed to grant Astra full membership into the DEO,” he smirked “Agent In-ze?” Astra looked up, smirking

“Yes?” she asked, J’onn pointed at her ankle, the one with the tracking bracelet on it

“Take that damn thing off” he ordered, Astra’s smirk widened

“Gladly” she reached down and easily snapped the anklet off like it was a rubber band, throwing it away. J’onn nodded approvingly

“Much better,” he said “Agent Danvers, why don’t you help Agent In-ze get started on her paperwork?” he suggested, I nodded

“Happy to, sir” I said, I gently gripped Astra’s arm and guided her over to my lab again where more paperwork awaited  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Now there’s no holding back, I’m aching to attack  
My blood is singing with your voice, I want pour it out  
The saints can’t help me now, the ropes have been unbound  
I hunt for you with bloodied feet across the hallowed ground

Like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins  
I want to find you, tear out all of your tenderness

And howl

\--Florence + the Machine “Howl”  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

“Oh, I am so glad to be back here,” I groaned as Astra and I finally shuffled into my apartment, after an hour of filing out incident reports and filing out the new agent paperwork for Astra, I was more than happy to flop down on my couch and let myself slowly sink into the cushions “I really hope we don’t have a repeat of last night” I muttered as I did just that

“In what way?” Astra asked as she leaned against me

“One of your crazy exes shows up” I explained

“Indigo and I never had that kind of relationship” I looked up

“You didn’t?” I asked, she shook her head

“No, as I said a ‘harmless flirtation’, nothing more”

“Then what was that whole ‘you broke my heart’ thing all about?” I wondered, Astra sighed and leaned back

“I’m not entirely sure,” she said “perhaps she holds an affection for me, we were close once, after all” 

“How did you two meet anyway?” I wondered, Astra leaned her head back and exhaled slowly

“Do you recall what I said about some Coluans who would offer their services as supercomputers on Krypton?” she asked, I nodded “well, even though they are a sentient race, the Coluans often act like machines, and on Krypton, despite there being laws against it, they were often treated as such. Indigo was…different, or so she seemed to be, at least”

“How so?” I asked

“When I first met her,” Astra began “it was during my first assignment after being promoted to general, my job was to ensure our planetary defense were function properly, what you might call ‘busywork’, since the Military Guild couldn’t figure out what to do with me yet. Indigo was in charge of maintaining the defense net itself and unlike other Coluans I’d met before then, most of whom were cold and aloof, she seemed…naive, almost child-like, she said that I was the only person who treated her like an individual rather than a machine, and she treated me like something other than ‘Alura’s twin’. We became, not friends per se, but we were…close”

“A ‘harmless flirtation’?” I teased, she chuckled

“Very harmless,” she said, she shook her head and got back on topic “when Non came to me with his findings about the instability of our core, Indigo seemed to agree with his findings, she seemed to agree with me that action needed to be taken, and so we developed a plan in secret”

“Myriad” I realized, Astra nodded

“Myriad,” she confirmed “unfortunately, Indigo tricked us, rather than wait for the Myriad wave to stabilize so that it could be used for its intended purpose, she deactivated the planetary defense net and tried to implement the unstable form of Myriad herself. Hundreds died in a single hour. When we finally captured her and shut down the Myriad wave, she…‘showed her true colors’ I think would be an accurate description. As it turns out, her child-like naïveté had largely been an act, she had really befriended me in order to gain access to the planet’s defense systems, her own goal, or so she claimed at her trial, was a demented version of Myriad, eradicate the population, and save the planet by simply starting anew. Or so she claimed. Personally, I think she just wanted to kill, I think she enjoys the power she has over others” I nodded as I remembered Indigo calling herself a god. I huffed out a breath

“And the whole ‘you broke my heart’ thing?” I asked, Astra shrugged

“As I said, I don’t know,” she repeated “perhaps, in some delusional way, she thought I loved her, perhaps she’s merely insane” I nodded quietly

“One last question and then I’ll drop it,” Astra nodded “how ‘harmless’?” Astra smirked, that damn half smirk that I found as hot as hell

“Harmless” she said

“Good,” I said as I leaned in to kiss her “because you’re mine” I whispered against her lips, she chuckled and pulled away

“Is that so?” she asked, she stood up and moved to the center of the room, easily nudging my coffee table out of the way “I am not a prize to be claimed, Alexandra,” she purred as she shifted into a fighting stance and god if that didn’t look arousing as hell, I remembered that heat that had surged through me back at the DEO when we were sparing and for a moment I was frozen stiff, because this wasn’t fighting, this was foreplay. She grinned suddenly, baring her teeth in a primal grin “but you’re welcome to try” she purred

Something inside me, whatever was left of my self-control, which she had slowly ripped to shreds over the past few days with her smirks and voice, suddenly snapped and I bolted off the couch, lunging for her. She easily dodged, laughing as I sailed past her to land on the floor in a sprawl “are you all right?” she asked, still chuckling. I slowly got to my feet and looked up at her

“I’m fine” I growled, she nodded, grinning

“Good, because I’m still waiting for you to ‘claim’ me, Alexandra” she purred teasingly, I found myself grinning back at her as I charged again. She dodged my charge again and spun around so that I was suddenly being held from behind in a bear hug

“Don’t think I’ll give up that easily” I warned, I gasped and felt my legs turn to jelly as she brushed her lips against my neck

“Oh, Alexandra,” she purred in my ear, hot and heavy “in this kind of battle…losing…is the best part” I wriggled and managed to slip out of her grip, sweeping her legs out from under her, and then pinning her to the floor

“You all right?” I asked, grinning as she twisted underneath me

“I should be asking you that” I gasped when she suddenly hooked a leg over mine and easily flipped us, pinning me to the floor, and sending another wave of heat through me

“It seems that I was wrong,” she purred “it’s more fun if you’re the winner,” she barred her teeth in a wide, primal grin “tell me what you want” she growled

“I want...,” I suddenly felt embarrassed, what started off as pure sex had suddenly turned into something deeper, and I suddenly felt the words bubble up through me “I want everything” I whispered, I watched as Astra’s grin suddenly softened, becoming a bittersweet smile. She reached out and gently stroked her thumb across my cheek

“I can’t give you that, love,” she said softly, almost whispering “no matter how much I wish I could,” she continued “but I will try to give you what I can” I nodded as she leaned in to kiss me, the heat in my veins returning almost instantly. As we pulled apart for air I leaned up, sinking my teeth in the skin of her neck, knowing I couldn’t really hurt her. I grinned to myself as I felt her sag against me, gasping out in Kryptonese as she did, which distracted her enough so I could flip her over.

I grinned down at her as I leaned in for another kiss…  
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**Astra**

“Did I ever tell you how much I like this streak?” Alex asked suddenly as we lay in bed together. I lifted my head to look over at her; she was resting her head against my chest, her skin still slick with sweat, her hair damp, as she fingered the lock of white in my hair

“No, you haven’t,” I answered “but thank you”

“I’ve always wondered,” she began hesitantly “did you get this to set yourself apart from Alura?”

“Partly, yes,” I explained “it was eventually insisted upon by our parents because they were growing tired of us switching places”

“Why?” she asked, I sighed as I remembered

“One time,” I began “when we were about twelve, my parents were to take Alura to Argo City to see the Academy where every member of our society was eventually taken to, upon which they would choose a career path in one of the varying Guilds. I was supposed to remain behind with relatives while the others left, but I wanted to go myself, even though as the second-born I was not allowed to yet, so…

“You switched places,” Alex reasoned “you went with your parents and Alura stayed home” I nodded

“Exactly, our parents didn’t even notice the switch until they were halfway home” I explained, Alex nodded again

“And they got mad, and blamed you for leaving your sister behind all by herself” I chuckled at her deduction skills

“Precisely, even though Alura was fine and no real harm had been done, they insisted that we find some way of marking ourselves so that they could tell us apart, and since I was the perpetrator in the latest deception, I was the one to be marked apart,” I sighed, pulling her closer “it was meant to be a punishment, a way to ‘put me down’ as you say, but I never saw it that way, to me, it set us apart, it made me different, I was my own individual, not merely ‘Alura’s twin’ or worse in danger of being mistaken for Alura herself” Alex chuckled against my skin

“Yeah,” she said softly as she gently fingered my newest scar, the one from Indigo’s blade “sisters are funny aren’t they?” she muttered

“They are” I agreed. She sighed and pressed herself further against me

“We should probably get up and eat something” she said

“Probably” I agreed, nether of us moved. Finally I made the effort and slowly sat up

“Ah, yes,” Alex commented dryly “the Kryptonian metabolism strikes again,” she grinned “come on,” she threw the bedcovers back “let’s see what we can find in the fridge,” I smiled at I watched her get up and walk to the door still nude. She turned and frowned at me “I’m not serving you breakfast in bed” she complained

“I was merely thinking,” I explained “do you remember when I said I much preferred you appearance in the mornings?” she nodded

“Yeah, what about it?” she asked, looking confused

“I think I prefer you this way much more” I said, she laughed

“Come on, you sweet-talker,” she said “let’s go get some food” I gladly got out of the bed and followed her

As I always would

**END**


End file.
